NOHA Master Thesis
“The growing importance of the impact of humanitarian aid
on local communities and the need for more predictability”
An analysis of the successfulness of non governmental organisations (NGOs) in the process of increasing the capacity of local communities based upon the example of community based
housing projects of Aceh in Indonesia after the tsunami of 2004
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Groningen, 25 Januari 2011 Sytske Claassen s143270
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List of content
Abbreviations ... 5
Definitions ... 6
1. Background and Rationale ... 8
Problem statement ... 8
1.1. Background information ... 8
1.2. Non governmental organisations (NGOs) ... 8
1.3. Concepts of Relevance, Appropriateness and Impact ... 9
1.4. Housing sector ... 10
1.5. Case study ... 11
1.6. Research Question ... 12
1.7. Methodology; SMART objectives ... 13
1.7.1. Overall objective ... 15
1.7.2. Internal and external indicators ... 16
1.7.3 Qualitative research... 17
1.8. Structure of the thesis ... 18
2. Impact assessment of humanitarian aid and natural disasters... 20
2.1. Impact ... 20
2.2. Role of the different actors in needs assessment ... 20
2.3. Aid effectiveness on different levels ... 21
2.3.1. Global level ...22
2.3.2. Regional level ... 23
2.3.3. Country level ... 23
2.3.4. Implementing aid effectiveness ... 23
2.3.5. Challenges ... 24
3
2.4.1. Response to a natural disaster ... 27
2.4.2. Recovery of livelihoods ... 28
2.4.3. Goal of recovery programs ... 28
2.5. Housing reconstruction after natural disasters ... 29
2.5.1. Community based approach ... 30
2.5.2. Purpose of participation ... 31
2.5.3. Capacity building, ownership and empowerment ... 31
2.6. Global framework on natural disasters ... 33
2.6.1. Hyogo Framework... 33
2.7. Different conceptual frameworks and concepts on natural disasters ... 34
2.7.1. The Disaster Resilience of Place Model ... 35
2.7.3. Vulnerability Framework ... 36
2.7.4. Vulnerability in the global environmental change community ... 37
2.7.5. Bogardi Brinkmann and Cardona (BCC) framework. ... 37
2.7.6. Environmental vulnerability ... 38
2.7.7. Vulnerability, sustainable development and risk reduction ... 39
2.8. Conclusion ... 40
3. The impact of the tsunami on Aceh ... 42
3.0.1. Aceh before the tsunami ... 42
3.0.2. GAM Fighters ... 43
3.1. National strategies and the real impact of the tsunami ... 44
3.1.1. The Master plan ... 45
3.1.2. Establishment of the BRR ... 46
3.1.3. Aid volatility ... 47
3.2. Impact of the tsunami ... 48
3.3. The impact of the tsunami on the livelihoods and the housing sector ... 49
3.4. The rebuilding process of houses ... 50
3.4.1. Challenges to the reconstruction process ... 51
3.4.2. The rebuilding process of houses ... 52
4
3.5. The role of women within the community ... 54
3.6. Coping strategies ... 54
3.7. The role of social capital ... 55
3.8. Conclusion ... 56
4. Analysis of the impact of the humanitarian aid ... 58
4.1 Impact of the NGOs on the housing sector ... 59
4.1.1. ADB Report ... 60
4.1.2. TEC report ... 62
4.1.3. ACARP ... 64
4.2. Analysis of the impact of NGOs on the housing sector ... 65
4.2.1. Oxfam International ... 66
4.2.2. World Vision Indonesia ... 72
4.2.3. Catholic Relief Services ... 73
4.2.4. Muslim Aid ... 76
4.3 Conclusion ... 78
5. Conclusion ... 83
5.1 Background ... 83
5.2. Impact assessment concepts of relevance and appropriateness ... 84
5.2.1. SMART objectives ... 84
5.2.2. Baseline ... 85
5.2.3 Characteristics of a tsunami ... 85
5.3. The housing sector in Aceh ... 85
5.3.1 Internal indicators influencing the housing sector ... 86
5.3.2. External indicators influencing the housing sector ... 87
5.4 Case study of the housing sector in Aceh ... 88
5.4.1. Findings of non-governmental organisations (NGOs ) ... 88
5.4.2. The real impact of NGOs on the housing sector... 89
5.5 Overall conclusion ... 91
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Abbreviations
ADB Asian Development Bank
ACAP Assessing Local Capacity and Reconstruction Assistance in Post tsunami Reconstruction
BRR Agency of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction
GAM Aceh Freedom Fighters
GOI Government of Indonesia
IDP Internally Displaced People
ISDR International Strategy for Disaster Reduction NGO Non Governmental Organisations
OCHA Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
OECD – DAC Organisation for Economic Co-operation - Development Assistance Committee
SMART Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant and Time-bound
UN United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UN –ESCAP United Nations Economic and Social Committee for Asia and the Pacific
UN-HABITAT United Nations Human Settlement Programmes UNHCR United Nations High Commission for Refugees
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Definitions
Accountability “Organisations are being held responsible to a particular group for the effects of their actions, for instance to the affected governments, to donors and to the public. The targeted group for whom accountability is assured, has accurate information about policies and actions of the organisation and their impact. This term is thereby closely linked with transparency (ALNAP, Edwards and Hume, 1995)”.
Assessment “A set of activities that are necessary to understand a certain situation. This includes the collection, analysis and interpretation of data of a region, group or community, providing a wider understanding of their needs, capacities and resources, as well as the micro environment”(UNHCR). Capacity building “A process in which individuals, institutions and societies
develop abilities, individually and collectively, to perform functions, solve problems and set and achieve goals”(UNHCR). Coping capacity “A combination of all strengths and resources available within a community or organisation that can reduce the level of risk, or the effects of a disaster” (UN/ISDR, 2002)
Civil Society “A structure outside of the government, for example NGOs and Human Rights groups, religious organisations, charities, universities, families and clans. It is one of the most critical sources of humanitarian assistance and civilian protection during recovery” (OCHA).
Disaster “A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceeds the ability of the affected communities or the society at large to cope with their own resources”.
Affected population “People who are directly affected by the tsunami” (Telford et al. 2006, p.3).
Empowerment “A process or a phenomenon that allows people to take greater control over the decisions, choices, policies, and administrative institutions that make decisions for them” (UNHCR).
Humanitarian aid agencies “Humanitarian actors for instance the Red Cross, United Nations agencies, international non-government organisations”(Telford et al. 2006, p.3).
7 risk or effects of a disaster. The capacities could be measured in physical means, administrative, local leadership, management, education et al.” (Telford et al. 2006, p.3)ISDR).
Livelihood “The capabilities, assets and activities required for a means of living linked with now and the future well-being, which makes it sustainable” (Sphere standards).
Livelihood strategies “Are the activities to obtain food, shelter and income, while coping strategies are temporary responses to food security” (Sphere standards).
Local capacities “Are a mixture of the resources, strength, skills and knowledge of the local community, and the ability to set and influence policies, all of which can reduce the risk or effects of a disaster. The capacities could be measured in physical means, as administrative, local leadership, management or education” (Telford et al. 2006, p.3).
Ownership “Control over the response, to ability to make decisions about policies priorities and the nature of the response. Those who own a process control it; they decide which priorities and policies apply, ranging from central government to local government”(Telford et al. 2006, p.33).
Period of transition “A transition period is a defined period of indeterminate duration, which constitutes the prolongation of armed conflict or a situation in which armed confrontation or a natural disaster has ended or entered a period of remission”(Harroff-Tavel 2003, p.465-466).
Risk “The product of the interaction between hazard and vulnerability, thus the probability and the amount of harmful consequences from interactions between nature, human and vulnerable conditions” (UN/ISDR, 2002).
Sustainability “Taking the long term needs into account in the implementation of programmes and or projects” (DAC Evaluation Criteria). (..)” the needs of the present needs to be met without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their need” (ISDR) (Brundtland Commission 1987).
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1. Background and Rationale
Problem statement
This thesis questions the humanitarian aid’s impact provided by non governmental organisations (NGOs) on local communities with a special focus on the process of rebuilding the housing sector, in Aceh after the tsunami in 2004. The official tsunami recovery tasks of the Government of Indonesia (GOI) through the Agency of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction - Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi (BRR) ended after four years in 2009. By that, time the majority of international NGOs had moved towards new challenges (Nazara and Resosudarmo 2007, p.21). NGOs that are still present in Aceh are Muslim Aid Indonesia, Oxfam, Caritas and Mercy Corps.
1.1. Background information
The debate on aid effectiveness is not new. Nevertheless, a gap in literature exists because there is much written on the impact of development aid, but not in connotation with humanitarian aid in complex settings such as a tsunami. Furthermore, practitioners do not always share this literature, nor provide feedback on good practise. The overall direction of the debates has been under constant influence from external circumstances, diverse and new actors in humanitarian assistance and multiple approaches at various levels of analysis. The focus of this discussion has shifted towards the impact of aid on local communities. In the aftermath of the tsunami of 2004 in Asia, this topic has been debated on a regional level rather than nationally or globally. Major players within this context that have shaped this debate are the neighbouring states, the GOI, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), United Nations Economic and Social Committee of Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP), United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) International and the World Bank (WB), and lastly the NGOs themselves. The Asian states themselves have contributed to the aid effectiveness debate, which is often linked with corruption and duplication of aid efforts (Beloe 2005, p.3-5).
1.2. Non governmental organisations (NGOs)
9 are they distributors of governmental and private funds, but also they act as contractors and executors of organisations including the World Bank (WB), United States Agency for International Development (US AID) or the ADB (McCoskey 2009) in order to implement programmes and projects. NGOs are more and more being regarded as specialists in fulfilling the specific needs of local communities in such as health care or education (McCoskey 2009). In the reconstruction period, of the post tsunami period in total US$6.8 billion was spent by the government and the international community to rebuild Indonesia; of this large sum US$1.6 billion comes from NGOs (Indonesia: Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Report 2009, p.1). Thus, NGOs have indeed played a major role in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Indonesia.
Consequently, the growth of actors in general within the field of humanitarian action creates different interests and agendas of the various stakeholders (Barnett 2005, p.732). In theory, the reallocation of the increasing amount of aid should be given to the most deprived and vulnerable communities. However, scholars dispute whether improvement has taken place on the delivery of humanitarian aid (World Bank, 1998; Burnside and Dollar 2000, p.781). The question that arises is: Under what conditions can aid providers such as NGOs deliver the
most effective and efficient sustainable aid to local communities?
1.3. Concepts of Relevance, Appropriateness and Impact
10 The term “relevance” is used to reflect whether the executed (housing) projects were in line with the local needs and priorities of the affected population. This term is also used to express execution of the housing projects in accordance to the donor policy of the BRR (OECD-DAC 2008, p.6). Therefore, it is closely connected with the term “appropriateness”. The term “Appropriateness” is used to discuss the adaptation of humanitarian activities to fulfil local needs, for instance increasing local ownership, accountability and/or cost-effectiveness, which ensure the sustainability of aid (ECHO, 1999, p.21). “Appropriateness” does not only entail the extent of provided aid, but also the way international aid is disbursed and distributed. In this context, the term is used to reveal the extent of delivered aid to the different communities in Aceh after the Boxing Day Tsunami in December 2004.
Measurement of the impact of humanitarian aid is a challenge because all the NGOs target various specific areas in fulfilling the basic needs following a natural disaster. Their actions sometimes overlap and this may cause duplication of aid, or in contrast, their actions may have been conducted in cooperation with other actors. Another factor that causes difficulty in measuring impact is that the aid is provided in environments that are under complex and changing conditions, diverse contexts, often executed without consideration of a coherent plan and programmes and projects being run in the same area (Mavrotas 2005, p.1020). Additionally, the word “impact” is often interchangeably used with “evidence” and/or “evidence-based practise” (Forss and Bandstein 2008, p.4). The term “impact” is also used to describe the effect of aid in respect to time, region and often on a nation level. This term is used in this thesis with regards to different levels of assessments, for example local, district, national and regional impact, since different methods are used to measure impact of aid in correspondence to the level of analysis. In sum, the most important criteria for measuring the successfulness of aid is the “impact” thus the change or difference between what would happen with the action undertaken. If the above-mentioned change is positive over a longer period, the impact is called sustainable (OECD-DAC 2008, p.5; ECHO 1999, p. 35).
1.4. Housing sector
11 the disaster risk reduction (DRR). DRR entails the capacity building of communities to reduce the impact of natural hazards, as prevention method, which did not exist in the Indian Ocean region. Scholars agree that different levels of governance should have worked together on this issue, and cooperate with each other to limit the impact of the tsunami and natural hazards in the region more generally and should have avoided the high death toll and damage on houses and infrastructure, especially in Banda Aceh (Telford et al. 2006, p.12).
The total damage of the tsunami is estimated at a US$6.2 billion. Of the total destruction, the greatest damage was measured on the housing sector and is estimated on a US$4.5 billion alone. A priority based on needs assessment under the effected population revealed the immense need to provide quickly shelters and the reconstruction of houses, for at least half a million people. An initial assessment stated that between 80,000 and over 100,000 houses needed to be build. An estimated 67,000 families lacked basic shelter and about 300,000 had become internally displaced. A year later only 7,000 families had received new permanent houses. As a result, the housing sector has attracted the most funding. An initial assessment stated that between 80,000 and over 100,000 houses needed to be build (Nazara and Resosudarmo 2007, p.23). The housing sector has, therefore, become the central part of this analysis (Indonesia: Aceh and Nias; Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Report 2009, p.2).
1.5. Case study
On the 26th of December in 2004 an earthquake of 8.9 on the Richter scale struck the coast line of Banda Aceh, followed by the tsunami killing at least 166.000 people immediately. Furthermore, the coastal villages were destroyed by the tsunami. Within 48 hours after the devastating natural disaster, the first foreign aid workers to arrive came from the American Army. The incentive for the international community to cooperate and interfere so fast was also political. The international community feared that the Aceh Freedom Fighters (GAM) would take advantage of this opportunity to take control over the area violently (Schulze 2005, p.2). This violence may have caused further unrest and destabilisation in the region and delays in the emergency and reconstruction period (Alvarado and Mendis 2007, p.185).
12 measuring the monetary loss, even though the main sector to suffer was the fishing industry where there was a loss of fishermen’s livelihoods close to the coastline of Aceh. Half of the total losses in lives and income fell on Indonesia. The overall impact in Aceh was estimated as high as one years’ economic income (Telford et al. 2006, p.7; Alvarado and Mendis 2007, p.10).
1.6. Research Question
The aid sector as mentioned above has been transformed drastically throughout the last decades due to new challenges and risks such as, globalisation, terrorism, and new players, such as the private sector, grassroots organisations and especially NGOs. In general, more attention has been drawn towards the wider impact of the delivery of humanitarian aid. Despite the greater interest on the delivery of humanitarian aid by different actors there exists a gap in literature, since most researchers focuses on development aid, but not so much on humanitarian aid in emergencies such as tsunami, let alone the transitional period between emergency, recovery- and development phase. Additionally, the impact of humanitarian aid delivered by NGOs in the transitional phase has not been researched in-depth.
The humanitarian aid delivered by NGOs in the transitional phase aims to meet the needs of local communities. The question arises if these needs are met, and if the local communities are able to sustain future threats (Alvarado and Mendis 2007, p.183-184; Bernard et al. 2006, p.1992). In Asia especially, increasing coping capacities are necessary, since reoccurrence of an earthquake or tsunami is likely to happen (ECHO 1999, p.56). In particular, the case study of Aceh, is prone to be affected in the future by natural hazards, therefore communities must recover from the tsunami in 2004 and even become less vulnerable by building better coping capacities.
13 workers are the factors, which could have contributed to the rehabilitation and reconstruction on the affected communities ((Indonesia: Aceh and Nias; Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Report 2009, p.3). In this thesis, the housing building process is used as an example for the analysis of the impact of foreign aid by NGOs. This leads to the following research question:
To what extent are foreign aid programmes of NGOs that target the housing recovery process accountable for the impact on local communities after the tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia in 2004?
This research provides a chance to gain a greater knowledge in livelihood changes at both household and institutional level. Moreover, the driving factors of the transitional/recovery phase are explored. The overall idea is to provide a contribution on how to improve methodologies for measuring impact of humanitarian aid at a community level in natural disasters and to encourage the exchange of research results between academia, humanitarian organizations, and communities. This thesis aims at indentifying and refining methods and tools of impact assessment in a humanitarian setting (Maxwell and Coates 2008).
Making the concept of impact of foreign aid operationally will pose a challenge and is of importance for the findings of this research. However, the impact is, always influenced by many independent elements such as the economic outlook of the future, long-term initiatives of NGOs and the vision and capacities of Foreign Companies to provide aid. NGOs who have withdrawn from the region will also influences the overall impact of international aid as well as the exit strategy of the housing project to hand over the responsibilities to the local authorities (ECHO 1999, p.55).
1.7. Methodology; SMART objectives
14 level of casualties in Aceh (Kennedy et al. 2008, p.25). The pre-conditions influence the effectiveness of humanitarian aid and thereby, making the impact assessment of NGOs a challenge. This research is based on the ECHO Manual, which defines five Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant and Time-bound (SMART) objectives to measure the impact of humanitarian aid. These indicators explain that aid must:
(..) “contribute to the reduction of human suffering, effect the local economy, effects the incomes of the local population, influences the health, have an impact on local capacity-building, sustainability and on livelihood”(..) (ECHO 1999, p. 35-36).
More specifically these SMART objectives can be interpreted as follows; humanitarian assistance needs to have an effect on (..)”the local economy, credit, loans, cash for work
projects, employment rates, reconstruction, and housing building projects”(...)(ECHO 1999,
p. 35-36). The SMART indicators, thus, cover wide-ranging policy areas from only public health related issues as waiting lists in hospitals, performance of primary school, attendance lists, infrastructure lists and suicide rates in prisons. These indicators measure quality based effectiveness of the performances of humanitarian aid. Additionally, the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) defines a capacity-building framework (2001) measuring and learning from effectiveness, which leads to sustainability and the long-term impact (Hailey et al. 2003, p.3).
The enlisted SMART objectives all contribute to the impact of humanitarian aid. However, to narrow down the analysis of aid effectiveness, this thesis focuses on the rebuilding and reconstruction of houses. The reconstruction and rebuilding of houses will in the long term influence the various indicators such as the income, health, economy and more importantly addresses the question whether the local community benefits or not from the capacity building.
15 Action (HFA) addresses the increasing global acknowledgement of challenges posed by disasters and thus the need to increase the resilience of nations and communities prior to a disaster. The HFA serves as a global framework that sets out guidelines for implementation of legislation and policies on different levels of analysis. These guidelines HFA are the starting point for making the concept of impact of humanitarian aid operational in a complex setting (ISDR, 2005, p.3). Furthermore, the HFA has lead to many useful published frameworks by accredited scholars, which all address the concept of impact of aid in a natural disaster setting and are linked with the concepts of relevance, appropriateness, resilience and/or capacity building. The listed frameworks underline that when crosscutting concepts are defined differently, this will consequently lead to various outcomes. The most relevant frameworks are mentioned in order to acknowledge/understand the different definitions and methods used to measure the impact, relevance and appropriateness of humanitarian aid on different level of analysis.
In this thesis, various indicators are used to provide information on the achievements of the overall SMART objective. The impact is assessed after establishing the pre-conditions in Aceh, which serves as a baseline for the analysis; several internal and external indicators influence the successfulness of the aid. All the indicators will contribute to the overall conclusion.
Additionally, especially the success of the housing reconstruction and rebuilding process is investigated based on the here after listed indicators. These objectives measures whether the extent of foreign aid of NGOs covers the needs in terms of the amount of houses provided for to the affected population. This research makes a distinction between the general objective, indicating the effects of humanitarian assistance and operational indicators, which focuses on the achievements. The operational indicators assess the effect of provision of foreign aid in terms of results on local communities in the housing sector. Thus, the indicators combined assess the successes of the housing projects (ECHO 1999, p. 61).
1.7.1. Overall objective
As listed above several internal and external indicators influences the successfulness of humanitarian aid on the housing sector. Housing sector as the objective in this thesis is an important element in the overall rebuilding process of societies after a natural disaster and conflict. Housing influences directly the basic living elements as (...)”shelter, dignity,
16 p.2) of the communities and thereby becomes a humanitarian issue. Housing reflects also a sense of ownership, pride, cultural identity, and social coherence, which can positively influence the process or rebuilding and construction of houses. The huge impact of housing is vital since especially natural disasters have a greater impact of an average many times more on developing countries than industrialised ones. This highlights the important role housing plays in the emergency and recovery phase in the aftermath of a natural disaster and thus should be reflected in the recovery programmes and attract attention of major NGOs in terms of planning and implementation (Barakat 2003, p.1; Jha 2009, p.17). The concept of housing can be also narrowed down to a distinction between the provision of shelter, semi-permanent and permanent housing. However, not so much experience of NGOs in the housing sector is shared and thereby, the challenge is to implement houses projects according to the beneficiaries needs and wishes, and influence the reliability, relevance and accessibility of the sources.
1.7.2. Internal and external indicators
The achievements of the various indicators that contribute to the overall effectiveness are for instance good leadership, good coordination, coherence between the NGOs and the GOI which all target different villages/communities. The foreseen challenge of reconstruction and recovery of Indonesia and in particular Aceh started with the huge amount allocated aid by the International Community that needed to be coordinated. In the area of reconstruction of houses, alone 107 NGOs were registered (Beloe 2005, p.21). Furthermore, the local authorities were already weakened by the internal violence, and understaffed by the tsunami let alone the already existing corruption contributed to an administration burden for the GOI. These preconditions made it a challenge to channel all the funding for the recovery phase. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Indonesia ranked in 2003 at the 122 place out of 133 countries with the same rank as Kenya. Corruption is measured via surveys and defined as:
(..) “The degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians” the abuse of entrusted power for private gain (Transparency International
Index 2006)”.
17 provide the homeowners new houses. Moreover, conflicting interest such as the costs of rebuilding or reconstructing houses are many times their year income, communities however expect to see quick results. The houses need to be built fast, and, donors want to see results in the short term to report to the funders, and, therefore, do not take into account the multi sector impact of the reconstruction of houses (Barakat 2003, p.1).
The indicators for impact assessment are multi-dimensional and aim at improving the economic, social and public needs in the housing sector. Moreover, different NGOs have all their own mandates, targeting various basic needs. The collection of impact data on the performance of these NGOs is difficult to obtain, let alone analyse them (Hailey et al. 2003, p.3). In reality, though, even some indicators are not measured at all such as inflation rate of construction material in the planning or implementations phase by neither NGOs nor the GOI, but influence the degree of successfulness of aid. These external influences make the results to an extent already biased from the beginning. For instance, the interpretation of data will reveal a conclusion on one of the most used indicators and precondition of foreign aid for capacity building, which is good leadership. Good leadership will positively influence other key players in governance and the private sector attract more foreign aid and is able to adopt changes and motivate the communities to act in a certain way.
1.7.3 Qualitative research
In this thesis, a mixed method is used based on secondary data. Individual interpretations of the secondary data, the perceptions of the NGOs, and the interpretations of the data itself however influence the findings of the successfulness of aid on local communities (Hailey et al. 2003, p.3-4)
The method(s) fits best to measure the impact of humanitarian aid is to use methods that acquire qualitative data, since quantitative data only reflects a correlation between two indicators. Quantitative date does not identify power relations within communities and does not take into account that some phenomena cannot be measured at all and, therefore, this method does not provide nuances in change overtime. On the contrary, qualitative indicators of change include:
(...)”case studies, unstructured in depth interviews, reflective commentaries provide
18 Triangulation is the favoured research approach. Above all, there is a great need for globally accepted indicators that measure the impact of humanitarian aid, which can be adjusted to local cultures/circumstances (Hailey e.a. 2003, p.10). The Oxford based International NGO Training and Research Centre (INTRAC) New Practise Programme (NP) describes the experiences of NGOs how to implement and adapt impact assessments indicators to local circumstances in the field. The NP explains the structures of power division, or where, relation between partnerships of NGOs results in various forms of implementation of for instance capacity building projects. However, what capacity building means is still doubtful, depending on language, customs, and the community interpretation of this concept. On the other hand, the need for capacity building is universally accepted; it is supposed to tackle poverty, health, the environment (Hailey et al. 2003, p.2)
1.8. Structure of the thesis
The overall goal of this thesis is to determine whether there is a link between the amount of foreign aid, on one hand, and the impact of the aid on the capacity building of local communities on the other. Moreover, this thesis addresses the extent to which foreign companies are accountable for this impact. This first chapter provided the background and the problem statement, outlined the concepts, the research question including methods. Above all, this chapter provided the academic and practical relevance of this research.
In order to understand the meaning and usage of terminology of aid effectiveness, impact of foreign aid in a humanitarian setting, a literature review on what has been written on a global, regional, international and local level so far is reflected in the second chapter. This literature review comprises the background of what has been published on this topic by accredited scholars, writers and researchers including core concepts, and frameworks of impact assessment as community based recovery approaches and the particularities of natural disasters. Included are the external factors which in theory pose challenges to the impact assessment in Aceh. In summary, chapter 2 together with the chapter 1 forms the theoretical framework of the thesis and outlines key concepts explaining how the humanitarian aid is assessed, according to which accepted international concepts including ownership and good leadership.
19 impact of the natural disaster on the housing sector and thereby provides an in depth analysis of the impact to the local and complex circumstances of Aceh. The effects of the most important actors for instance the GOI and the BRR that can speed up the recovery phase are described as well. This chapter will focuses in depth on the characteristics of the community based housing projects as a key indicator for impact assessment.
The fourth chapter forms the empirical part of the thesis and analyses how much of the committed foreign aid has been disbursed and to what extent the humanitarian aid is trickled down to the communities. This chapter will take the indicators and conclusions of chapter two and three into account as a basis for the study on the progress being made in the community based housing sector by NGOs, which are instructed by foreign contractors and financers in the housing sector. The data of the actual impact of the foreign aid is derived from secondary data, reports and impact assessments. This chapter reflects the discrepancy between the reality of the measurement of impact assessments and the challenges or obstacles of these measurements. Oxfam International (IO), World Vision (WV) Indonesia, Christian Relief Services (CRS), Muslim Aid Indonesia, The Tsunami Evaluation Commission (TEC), Asian Development Bank (ADB) the Aceh Community Assistance Research Project (ACARP) will provide insight information on the progress made in the housing sector on an international level, country level and local level of analysis. Moreover, the difference between two faith-based NGOs in a predominately-Muslim province is assessed, to uncover the successfulness and acceptance of an NGO with an opposite identity/ religious background. This is vital since religion can determine the role played by men/women in society and in the recovery phase, influencing the social cohesion within a community. In summary, chapter four presents empirical data comprised of the findings of NGOs key players on the impact assessment of the aid provided for in Aceh.
20
2. Impact assessment of humanitarian aid and natural disasters
This chapter starts with defining the concept of impact and uncovering the debate of aid effectiveness. This is followed by both a detailed description of the characteristics of natural disasters and the different theoretical frameworks on natural disasters. These frameworks are developed to provide possible indicators to measure the impact of natural disasters. Furthermore, the different approaches of recovery and development are investigated, such as differences between community-based approach and community-driven approach. Factors, which influence the recovery and reconstruction of houses, are also discussed. The chapter ends with a description of key natural disaster frameworks which incorporates important terms including vulnerability, resilience and sustainable. This chapter will bring together the previous chapter form the theoretical framework of analysis. These Chapters (Chapter 1 and 2) provide the theoretical baseline that should result in the understanding of the context specific implications and circumstances of the tsunami in Aceh.2.1. Impact
“Impact” as a concept is defined as: (...)”the long-term sustainable changes due to
humanitarian assistance (Hailey et al. 2003, p.7). There is a major difference between the
concepts “output”, “outcome” and “impact”. “Output” refers to the question of how the activities, or policies of humanitarian actors are implemented. The “outcome” of humanitarian aid measures the direct short-term influences of humanitarian assistance. Only “impact” as a concept measures how the current situation has changed from the baseline or yardstick (Hailey et al. 2003, p.7). A good balance of different measuring methods of evaluations on the impact of humanitarian assistance is needed both externally and internally by the agencies themselves. These evaluations should give local communities ownership over the executed programmes (Hailey et al. 2003, p.10). Humanitarian assistance can be at best one out of all indicators, which brings sustainable change in the long-term.
2.2. Role of the different actors in needs assessment
21 programmes can be measured. However, other factors determine the effects of humanitarian aid. Therefore, it is important to find out what the other external and internal factors are that might influence the outcome of an impact assessment.
First, good coordination, alignment, is needed between the staff of NGOs, stakeholders and donors to allow them to communicate with each other to adopt humanitarian aid policies accordingly, leading to more harmonisation of aid. An effective government can increases the coordination between all the actors. Secondly, good governance will influence the extent of local authorities facilitating-, or encouraging change. Effective governance is also reflected in the level of accountability and transparency. Additionally, the authorities play a major role in monitoring the investments made by foreign aid agencies in projects and programmes. The third step towards more effective delivery of aid is to make local authorities responsible for setting up or providing guidelines to the NGOs, thereby increasing the appropriateness of aid. Local authorities should channel the humanitarian aid to the affected communities. Finally, a good functioning government is able to adjust plans according to new information or assessments, thereby increasing the relevance of the provided aid. Good governments have the ability to change the perspectives of various stakeholders to take over the adjusted recovery plans and guidelines (Hailey et al. 2003, p.7).
Aid effectiveness is also influenced by external factors, which can be neither predicted nor prepared for. These include the wider macro environment of the natural disaster; this factor plays a major role in strengthening the coping capacity of the local communities. The inflation rate, corruption, bureaucracy, competitiveness of aid, lack of coordination and late disbursement of funds are all indicators, which reduces the effectiveness of humanitarian aid. Inflation can increase the budget of a programme suddenly, and therefore makes the implementation of the programme unsure. This causes delays in the execution of programmes and projects or in the worst case that he NGO becomes unable to finance the whole programme (Hailey et al. 2003, p.7).
2.3. Aid effectiveness on different levels
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2.3.1. Global level
Influential political figures of developed countries drew up the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness in 2005, which is followed by the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) in 2008. Both mentions the concepts of “ownership”, “harmonisation”, “alignment”, and are regarded as the key words, both fostering joint progress towards Aid Effectiveness by donors. The AAA builds upon the commitments made in the Paris Declaration (OECD DCD-DAC 2008, p.1). These terms should manage and influence the results of the delivery of aid, and should consequently ensure mutual accountability between the providers and receivers of humanitarian aid. The Paris Declaration mentions a three folded approach to increase aid effectiveness. It focuses on ownership, national administration systems and better coordination, fragmentation and predictability of aid. The concept of ownership is reflected in community-based projects that foster more participation of communities in the whole project cycle of NGOs. The opinion of these is that humanitarian aid can only be delivered more effectively if the affected countries administration and institutions are working properly together. Thus, humanitarian aid needs to be developed and implemented in coherence with existing national policy. Additionally, commitment of countries to provide aid should lead to the creation of more predictable outcomes of humanitarian aid. More predictability of aid is only possible when global programmes and initiatives are integrated. Enhancing aid effectiveness is in theory already complex let alone the challenging real circumstances of Aceh. The Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness emphasises the need to harmonise humanitarian aid. Donors must align and above all provide tailored humanitarian aid, without duplication. Tailored humanitarian aid is context specific aid (OECD DCD-DAC 2005, p.1-3). The Paris declaration on Aid Effectiveness and AAA both addresses the issue of aid effectiveness for donors on a national level in an international/regional setting. These frameworks stresses indirectly the importance of community-based programmes/projects that increases the ownership of communities over the humanitarian assistance as well as the vital role played by the national authorities in channelling the aid and the coordination of the provided aid.
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2.3.2. Regional level
The tsunami affected many countries in Asia. In the Asian region, the provision of sustainable aid provision is not currently a hot topic. However, at an inter-governmental level the issues of foreign aid and the likely reoccurrence of natural disasters in the region are being discussed. The voice of NGOs or civil society movements is unfortunately not yet being heard in this region (OECD DCD-DAC 2005, p.11).
2.3.3. Country level
Both the Indonesia Government and aid agencies have actively engaged and participated in the drafting of the Paris declaration and the AAA. The DAC (working party on Aid Effectiveness) provides definitions, scope of application of aid, criteria and methodologies to assure better results of the delivered foreign aid. Progress of the aid delivery is documented via annual reports on a country level. On an international level, these reports are used to broaden the partner participation in case of emergencies (De Renzio et al. 2005, p.1). It is more important to understand the way in which countries implement these aid effectiveness guidelines. It is essential to acquire the knowledge over the affected countries and develop tools to evaluate the vast influx of humanitarian aid. The interpretation of the guidelines and definitions differs not only between NGOs, because of different backgrounds, identity, mission and vision, but also between individuals within a NGO. The interpretations of local authorities and community leaders are very valuable, because they are the ones implementing the policy (Beloe 2005, p.3).
2.3.4. Implementing aid effectiveness
24 At a country level Indonesia while being on track with most of the MDGs appears to be at the same time one of the most corrupted countries in Asia, as indicated by the website Transparency International. Corruption can influence the impact of aid because it can postpone the implementation of programmes or can cause less finished number housing than originally planned. Another indicator influencing the impact of aid is a decentralised administration, which is measured by the OECD DAC and reveals the performance of NGOs. The outcome however is not published or available. A very plausible reason for not making the outcomes of OECD DAC report public is that governments compete to get the best aid deals and for that reason remains classified (Beloe 2005, p.18-20; da Silva 2010, p.62). In current literature there is no clear correlation between the amount of development aid provided for after a (natural) disaster and the amount of foreign aid that flows into a country. The difficulty is that aid is often labelled for the use in the emergency, relief or recovery phase. There cannot be made, however, a clear separation between these phases. In Aceh, some of the consequences of the tsunami actually stem from the decades of fights for independence of this province, such as the underinvestment in public services by the local and national government causing weak local authorities. The consequences of the internal independence conflicts are said to be the underlying root causes of the underdevelopment. Despite the fact of these insecurities of the independency conflicts, due to the abundant natural resources, Aceh had a high GPD in comparison of the rest of the country (da Silva 2010, p.62). Thus, victims of the tsunami might as well been victims of the GAM. Humanitarian aid con not make a distinction.
2.3.5. Challenges
The beneficiaries of humanitarian aid are never a homogeneous group of victims. This consequently questions if there is a clear existing correlation between the amount of humanitarian aid and development. Will more aid provision contribute to better outcomes? Could it possibly lead to less poverty and increase local resilience and hence better local coping capacities? Research on the impact of aid on economic growth has shown that the local economy grows especially in the direct aftermath of the disaster because of the high foreign investment and employment in the recovery phase but the influences in the long-run are more unpredictable (Kennedy et al. 2008, p.28).
25 between NGOs. Projects within bigger programmes face challenges if they try to simultaneously target the infrastructure, poverty, health care and/or education dimension of recovery. Measurable indicators such as good governance, technical knowledge, sustainable development and ownership are regarded as important for the long-term success of foreign aid. Implementation of ownership by external agencies can be introduced, especially by using a participatory development approach (Bourguignon and Sundberg 2007, p.318-322).
Another important link between foreign aid and the impact of it for policy makers is if and how well the various levels of governance authorities work together. Factors that link national policies with local policies and a system of checks and balances in place play a major role in increasing the effectiveness of aid. Additionally, the relationship between foreign aid agencies and policy makers is another key factor. All above-mentioned factors influence the national recovery policies (Bourguignon and Sundberg 2007, p.317).
Actually, the impact of humanitarian aid is predominately influenced by the macro stability and the investment climate. Liberalization of trade within the region might influence the effectiveness also. For example, in the case of Aceh, the macro stability and investment climate is reflected by the amount of corruption and trade barriers for resources used for the recovery phase such as timber and wood. Furthermore, the impact of humanitarian aid depends on the kind of assessments that are used, which form starting point of the recovery policies. These policies can be based data on prior to tsunami conditions and evaluations or solemnly on experience and economic impact assessment afterwards. The success of policy makers in providing the appropriate aid in a specific context depends largely on the administration and prior tsunami data in place. The many NGOs working at the same time in the housing sector could result in the fragmentation of aid, which contributes to higher compliance costs, less predictability and greater aid volatilities, thereby, risking the decrease of aid effectiveness (Masyrafah and McKeon 2008, p.39-40; Kuru 2005, p.20,28).
26 the foreign aid more predictable and could even lead to flexibility in their budget, which will provide more leverage for successful implementation of programmes (Bourguignon & Sundberg 2007, p.318). However, each natural disaster is context-specific and a greater understanding of the specific characteristics of a natural disaster is necessary to be able to address the needs of local communities afterwards.
2.4. Characteristics of natural disasters
The response towards a natural disaster of the local community, the local government and in general on a country level will determine the impact of the disaster afterwards and thereby influences the recovery process of livelihoods. This part of the thesis explains these aspects and addresses the purpose of recovery programmes.
There are “four types” of natural disasters, which occur the most frequently, and which have the most impact on local communities; “floods, earthquakes which can cause a tsunami, cyclones and droughts”. The main characteristics can be explained by heir (...) “predictability,
scope, onset, and mortality rate”(..)(Sapir and Lechat 1986, p.118). However, the mortality
rate out of these factors is variable and depends as well on pre-existing economic and social conditions. The response toward a natural disaster can be described best in the following phases: “the warning-, impact-, emergency-, rehabilitation- and recovery phase”. Statistics show that a natural disaster tends to strike more often in less developed countries, and is therefore closely linked with concepts as such as “vulnerability” (Sapir and Lechat 1986, p.118). Earthquakes and tsunamis are characterised by (..)“sudden onset, large scope of
impact, high mortality rate and low predictability”(...)(Sapir and Lechat 1986, p.119). These
natural disasters occur with little warning or time between earthquake and tsunami. A tsunami is unpredictable, and usually damages more sectors than other natural disasters, for example, the flooding of seawater causes huge damages to agriculture land, next to collapsing of houses. Usually when the development stage of a country is higher, the adjustment capacity after a natural disaster is also better (Sapir and Lechat 1986, p.119-120).
27 difficult. Furthermore, different categories of injuries seem to exist, and a high number of affected people are even not registered since they did not visit an official hospital. In the case of earthquakes and tsunamis, the most injuries occur directly after or during the event. These injuries are directly correlated with the construction of houses and infrastructure, and secondly the socio and economic conditions of the communities influences the amount of injuries (Sapir and Lechat 1986, pp.119-221).
The long-term impacts of natural disasters are besides the loss of life, the loss of income, such as the fisherman in Aceh. The loss of income has a great impact on whole families, since often no financial safety net is in place. With floods the salt of the seawater will destroy a couple of harvests at best; consequently, this leads to second wave of deaths destroying livelihoods for many affected people. There should internationally be more emphasis on a distinction between direct consequences of the natural disaster and the human implications. Moreover, even within a country there might be huge differences between poor rural areas and urban areas in terms of impact of a natural disaster (Sapir & Lechat 1986, p.123-124). 2.4.1. Response to a natural disaster
In general, an investigation on the impact of a natural disaster starts similar as any other disaster, with an assessment of what has happened. This investigation includes an assessment of the total damages loss of life in order to understand the magnitude of the disaster. However, not only damages and loss of life needs to be determined, also the loss of property, houses, infrastructure and the impact on the economy. In order to understand the context and scope of the disaster, as many stakeholders need to be involved in the data collection process and data analysis of the disaster as possible. It is important to include the needs and wishes of the beneficiaries in order to make the response to the disaster context specific, culturally appropriate and more relevant. The next step is to investigate a reasonable timeframe for the recovery phase including an assessment of available resources and skills, thus the amount of wood and timber needed for instance to rebuild the houses. This assessment is necessary to set the prices of the needed resources to calculate the budgets (da Silva 2010, p.28-30).
The reconstruction phase, after a natural disaster strikes, provides a window of opportunity to rebuild a safer environment in which a disaster has a less destructive impact in the future by reducing the vulnerability of the communities. A tsunami is an extreme event which can best be prepared by means of an (..)“early warning system and a well functioning evacuation
28 needed to increase the coping capacities of the community living in high risks of coastal areas. The planning, implementation of building guidelines and restrictions, as well as escape routes results in increased preparedness of the local communities. Good infrastructure must also be incorporated in the reconstruction plans next to the recovery of houses. Governmental reconstruction plans need to include the types of hazards, which are likely to occur and the risks they bring with them (da Silva 2010, p.13).
2.4.2. Recovery of livelihoods
Principles which are required in the recovery programmes of NGOs after a natural disaster are the need to rebuild the houses back safer and ensure equity in development in the recovery of livelihoods. The wider environmental context of the region must be included in the national recovery plan. People need to recover not only from the loss of lives or injuries and damages but often have to find a new way to earn an income as well, diversification of income sources is important. Local communities are heterogeneous, consisting of different generations and gender with all specific needs that need to be adhered to in order for the whole community to regain their livelihood (Kapadia 2005, p.1). Livelihood recovery can be encouraged by cash-for-work programmes, cash-grants, advocacy or microcredit. These methods are mainly focused on the socio-economic strengthening of communities.
2.4.3. Goal of recovery programs
The aim of recovery programmes used to rebuild the damages of houses and infrastructure, thus to encompass various programmes aiming to assess, reduce and mange the impact of disasters at different levels of analysis. However, recovery programmes of humanitarian response require also an appropriate and context specific approach. The response tackles root causes of vulnerability such as livelihood, institutions and power relations of local governance. The humanitarian programmes, which address the impact of the natural disaster, must acknowledge that, the impact and the response has often different results at local communities. In addition, humanitarian agencies need to know the institutional drivers, which increase local coping capacities. The problem in Aceh was that the tsunami also damaged local legal/social institutions. These institutions used to have information on property ownership and gathered information on areas often damaged by floods or storms (Maxwell & Coates 2008).
29 earthquakes, storms, tsunamis, and vulnerabilities of a community. The lack of resilience of a community can be caused by a lack of good infrastructure, economy and the environment these communities live in (Birkmann 2006, p.2). Hence, natural disasters influence the livelihood of communities, in the case of a tsunami, infrastructure and the housing sector is one of the most visible sectors which is affected by this.
2.5. Housing reconstruction after natural disasters
There already exist guidelines for rebuilding houses after natural disasters. For a nation recovering the most prominent challenges are the questions of the amount of houses needed, lists of people that are entitled to a house and identifying possibilities to resettle communities. Additionally, the impact of resettlement for the planning of land needs to be examined. In the implementation phase, the newly constructed infrastructure should also consider the wider environmental constrains in order to make the reconstruction sustainable. The rebuilding of houses needs to adhere to the wishes of the beneficiaries by using the appropriate cultural values of the communities (Jha 2009, p.5)
30 2.5.1. Community based approach
With the term, “community participation” is meant more than just the community giving their consent to the execution of plans and programmes of NGOs. “Participation” is seen as the key to the success of many programmes. If participation of the communities is ensured it is expected to provide long-term economic and environmental success. Participation is reflected in the usage of people’s ideas and knowledge, as well as the power that is given to the communities over the programmes and projects of external agencies as NGOs. However, the concept of “participation” has various meanings to different people and NGOs. The main purpose of participation is to increase the local coping capacities, which consequently builds their self-reliance and indirectly their income and even their livelihood. Generally, participation results in a decreasing power of external agencies over their programmes but will result in the consent of the local communities over programmes and will also justify the external decisions made for the implementation of the programmes of NGOs, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the provided aid to local communities (Pretty et al. 1995, p.60).
There are seven main types of “participation”, that agencies use and each type reveals the amount of actual participation of the communities in the projects. Participation can be done on different levels, at various stages of a project cycle ranging from “passive participation to self-mobilization”: From “passive participation”, which is participation where the people are being told how the project is about to be implemented to “self-mobilization”. “Self- mobilization” means that in this stage of participation the initiative comes from the local communities, which in practise is rare. They develop contracts, are asking for funding, resources and knowledge on how to implement the programmes together with external agencies, however they keep the overall control over the programmes and projects (Pretty et al. 1995, p.61). In the housing sector, participation is an often-used phrase in impact assessment; however, what type of participation is meant remains unclear. The empirical part of this thesis reveals that the assessed NGOs all use different participatory methods in the housing sector, which indirectly influences the appropriateness and relevance of the provided humanitarian aid.
31 sustainable development, and aims to develop an appropriate response to a disaster at a community level. The overall purpose of using community based approaches is to cope, prevent and decreases the impact of natural disasters on local communities (Victoria 2005, p.270-271).
2.5.2. Purpose of participation
The benefits of using a participatory approach is that the community is addressed with dignity, their needs and wishes are heard and it enhances the coping capacities of communities and thereby increasing the relevance of the provided aid. Community participation aims to create ownership of the communities over the disaster mitigation programmes which are in the end also more cost effective and appropriate. The process of using participation means the inclusion of the voice of local disaster committees and volunteers that are asked to help with the implementation of the “community based” projects. The “community based approach” is bottom-up and, therefore, includes the needs of the local communities, and acknowledges the importance of traditional coping capacities. The “community based approach” includes the wider context in programmes by using a multi-sector approaches, targeting the housing multi-sector, public health, and infrastructure. Thus “community based” recovery programmes incorporates a broad range of issues in projects, programmes in order to reduce the effects of disasters.
Natural disasters are often still viewed as isolated events/incidents and in case of a tsunami even rare events. In the recovery phase, this results in a lack of linking the damage assessments with the prior conditions and future threats. The response towards tsunamis was often top-down ruled, inflexible, and perceived the beneficiaries as victims. The response to the consequences of the natural disaster was often technical; the implementing agencies were only accountable towards the donors instead of towards the beneficiaries making the process of recovery less transparent (Victoria 2005, p.274).
2.5.3. Capacity building, ownership and empowerment
32 community-driven approach towards development. However, the downside of this approach is that if the expectations of the needs of local communities are not implemented in accordance with the timeframe, it does not serve the needs of the local communities properly, making the aid less relevant. In Aceh, delays in the implementation of programmes made the local communities fear the consequences of for instance the coming rainy season. Thus, people needed sooner rather than later permanent housing facilities, the short term output of aid was preferred instead of sustainable and earthquake/tsunami resilient houses.
The concept of ownership is closely connected with responsibility and accountability. Local ownership cannot be achieved, if the implementing agencies are not transparent or if the authorities are corrupt. This consequently leads to imposing programmes and projects of humanitarian agencies and governmental authorities without the consent of the communities (Telford et al. 2006, pp.9-11). The World Bank defines a community driven development approach as:
(...)“an approach that empowers local community groups, including local government, by giving direct control to the community over planning decisions and investment resources through a process that emphasizes participatory planning and accountability” (...). (Cliffe et al. 2003, p.6)
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2.6. Global framework on natural disasters Cross- cutting issues on the formulation of guidelines and indicators of the impact of natural disasters on a global level are mentioned in the Hyogo Framework for Action. This framework on natural disasters is a recent and most often referred to by researchers.
2.6.1. Hyogo Framework
The Hyogo framework is the outcome of a “World Conference on Disaster Reduction” which not only describes the challenges of natural disasters, but goes further by giving objectives, expected outcomes and strategic goals, and even priorities of actions to come to an international strategy of disaster reduction (Schipper & Pelling 2006, pp.19-20).
34 The starting point for action addressed in “The Hyogo Framework” is to obtain accurate knowledge over the characteristics and dynamics of hazards and the physical, social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities of communities towards natural disasters. This will lead to action taken upon this knowledge (Hyogo Frame work for Action 2005, p.7-9). The Hyogo illustrates the desired implementation of a global framework, though; it does not reflect what indicators are used to measure vulnerabilities, in order to increase the resilience of societies towards natural disasters. Hazards only become disasters if human coping capacities are destroyed (Birkmann 2006, p.9). Indicators must be developed, instead of international guidelines over developing indicators. In short, the Hyogo framework for action reveals the link between “vulnerability” and “sustainable development”. These indicators can be used to design policies and thus might increase the aid effectiveness, when communities are more empowered and capable to address future threats to hazards (Birkmann 2006, p.10-11). This framework underlines the challenges faced on a global level to implement universal binding guidelines on disaster risk reduction on local communities. Additionally, this framework underlines the importance of increasing community’s resilience and stresses the root causes influencing the aid effectiveness.
2.7. Different conceptual frameworks and concepts on natural disasters
Many concepts exist within the field of natural disasters and risk reduction. The four most relevant for the aftermath of the tsunami in Aceh are “hazards”, “disasters”, “vulnerability” and “resilience”. These concepts can all contribute to the explanation of the impact of a natural disaster, as well as the root causes which influences the aid effectiveness, and are projected in various conceptual frameworks, which all try to explain and simplify the reality. The frameworks themselves provide possible indicators that can be used both to measure and reduce the impact of natural disasters. These frameworks on natural disasters include next to the above listed concepts also other terms that directly or indirectly influence the impact of natural disasters, which are, “mitigation”, “preparedness”, and “social vulnerability”.
35 disasters, and introduction of early warning systems. (Victoria 2005, p.270-273). “Social vulnerability” is a dynamic concept that addresses more than just rebuilding the damaged infrastructure and livelihoods. This concept includes the following elements as well being, livelihoods and resilience, self-protection, social protection and political networks and institutions (Birkmann 2006, p.13). It takes into account the wider social and environmental circumstances and macro indicators that influence the aid effectiveness (Birkmann 2006, p.14-15). “Resilience” is a dynamic concept, and is defined as the capacity to absorb or adapt disturbance or shocks, to cope with a disaster to decrease the impact, damage (Cutter et al. 2008, p.600).
In this thesis the pre existing political, social and economical conditions are used as baseline and the changes over time in the recovery phase as the impact of provided humanitarian aid. (Birkmann 2006, p.15). Of all concepts and existing models on natural disasters, the ones focussing on reducing society’s vulnerability are the most relevant for this analysis and are therefore discussed below:
“Disaster Resilience of Place Model”
“Sustainable Livelihood Framework” by DFID, 1999
“Vulnerability Framework” by Turner et al.’s et al., 2003
“Vulnerability in the Global Environmental Change Community” by Cardona and Barbat, 2000
“Pressure and Release Model PAR” by Wisner et al., 2004: 51.
“BBC” (Bogardi, Brinkmann and Cardona) Framework, based on Bogardi/Birkmann (2004) and Cardona (1999/2001)
2.7.1. The Disaster Resilience of Place Model
